


In His Own Image

by jaypeg



Category: Devilman (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Canon - Manga, Canon-Typical Violence, Devilman Secret Santa, M/M, Not A Fix-It, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 01:50:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17132786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaypeg/pseuds/jaypeg
Summary: When the timeline is reset at the end of the War, Satan wakes up 20 years in the past in his old bed back at the Asuka manor. Professor Asuka has just died and Satan has an important decision to make.





	In His Own Image

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheBookGrl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBookGrl/gifts).



> Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everybody but especially to TheBookGrl! It's always good to start off Christmas with something lighthearted and sweet, right? Well that's not what this is, but I hope you like your gift anyway, Jazz!

When Satan awakes from the burning white of his siblings’ touch, he's in a bed. The smell of smoke clings to the air and his clothes, which he belatedly realizes is a pair of pajamas he hasn't seen in years. He turns on his bedside lamp and sees his old room back in the Asuka mansion, just as he’d last seen it before the War. In a flash of Understanding, he knows Professor Asuka has just died and he is nothing more than Ryo Asuka again. It seems that God has given him a second chance. He doesn’t know whether to be relieved or frustrated.

His eyes catch on a frame sitting innocently on his desk and something about it and even from this angle he knows exactly what picture sits inside. He knows every inch, every line of the image without even having to look, which he damn well should because he’d carried it with him every day until he finally shed Ryo for good. But he’s Ryo again now, not Satan ( ~~this is a lie, he can sense his power and angelic form hiding just beneath his skin but for some reason he feels like it’s the truth~~ ). He can see in his mind’s eye him and Akira sitting side by side, his arm slung across Akira’s shoulders. Ryo is laughing at something as Akira tries to will a blush away. Satan tries to remember what exactly he had been laughing at but draws a blank.

He can barely recall this version of Akira, timid, non-confrontational, _fully human,_ let alone what he had said all those years ago. And suddenly Satan realizes that this version of Akira is the current version. This picture, with his dog John alive and well in the background, just seconds from jumping on them, was taken only a week before Akira’s parents went on their last expedition. Only a couple months ago were they officially declared missing and Akira left their school for one closer to the Makimuras.

The Akira here in this time is timid, non-confrontational, and so very _human_. And now that the truth of what has happened is sinking in, Satan can’t tell if the feeling settling in his stomach is one of relief or disappointment.

 

 ~

Satan finds Akira in front of his old high school, the gang that had once rallied under him now harassing him and the Makimura girl ( ~~her name is Miki and Satan knows he shouldn’t feel guilty about what happened, what _needed_ to happen, but he does~~), just as they had done over twenty years ago. The sight of it is strange, not dejavu-like but just off. Nothing has changed except Satan ~~except everything is different now and he’s the only one that stayed the same~~.

He needs to make sure that nothing continues to change.

Akira’s old second-in-command, Dosu- Dosu-something, pushes the Makimura girl against the brick wall in front of the school, a horrid, lustful look on his face as he leers at his lackeys. These are the same people Satan was told had died protecting the girl, and here they are acting like the kinds of humans Satan hates the most: self-serving and willing to harm anyone and anything to get their way. There is no kindness or generosity or love in them. He’s reminded all at once how incredibly rare Akira is in the world of humans; even when he’d lost his humanity, Akira had never lost those few human traits Satan that admired so much, that he loved to his very core.

“Hey Fudo!” Satan calls before anything worse can happen. He’s already opened his coat to show off the shotgun he’d remembered to hide there. The lackeys step back at the sight and Dosu-something loosens his grip enough that Makimura worms her way free. But Satan barely notices; his eyes are locked on Akira.

“Asuka!” Akira smiles at him, his black school uniform reminding him just how _young_ this Akira is, completely innocent and with the same subtle wrongness that the picture back at Asuka manor had.

“Fudo, come with me. I need you for something,” Satan says, putting on that wry grin and carefree tone that he’d given up once the War started and he was commanding an army. They fit like well-worn gloves, like Satan is really just Ryo again and he doesn’t know how bad this is going to end. And before Akira can say anything, can barely look back to Makimura and Dosu-something, he adds, “It’s very important and can’t wait.”

With that, Satan glares at Dosu and his gang, smirking when he sees them back off, before turning on his heel back to ~~his father’s~~ his car.

“Ryo, wait up! I’m coming!”

Ryo looks behind to see Akira chasing after him, eyes wide and filling up with a growing happiness, as if just being with him again is all he might need in the world. ~~Maybe Ryo’s just projecting~~. Ryo hasn’t seen this look in so long, a look of such unwavering trust, that he wonders if it’s all worth it to keep things the same. Keeping Akira alive had cost him his humanity, had cost him the Akira that he had first fallen in love with, and in the end, Ryo had been the one to land the fatal blow. Was there really a way out of this worth sacrificing Akira again?

Seeing the innocence in Akira’s face, Ryo makes his decision.

 

~

The Sabbath still happens, but Ryo and Akira don’t go. It had already been set up before Ryo ever learned of demons; he’d only been the lynch pin to make it go as bad, as spectacularly last time. Who knows, maybe this time will attract the attention of a few demons even without needing a little blood to be spilt.

Instead, they sit on Ryo’s bed in the manor, no longer clinging with the smell of smoke, but the death of Professor Asuka still lingers in the air between them. Ryo doesn’t bring up demons, doesn’t show him the mask in his basement ( ~~he doesn’t even know if it would still work this time. Does Psycho Jenny know anything has happened, that he’s changed long before they’d planned?~~ )

For some reason, either out of pity or cruelty, God has given him a second chance. And he’s going to take it, even if it means He wins. Even if it means that he give up everything he stands for. Because Satan has already lost Akira once to the War, but he’ll be damned once more if he doesn’t do everything to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Satan’s heart has always been his greatest weakness; he’s always known this. He just hopes that, when this is all said and done, that there will be something of it left. If not, he hopes that God will be merciful and destroy it all at once, not leave him to suffer as it is crushed inch by crawling inch. ~~He tries not to think that not once has he ever witnessed God be merciful~~.

 

 ~

The day the school is attacked by spider demons, Ryo convinces Akira to skip class so they can joy ride in his father’s car. They do nothing but talk and laugh and enjoy each other’s company like Ryo hasn’t done in twenty years. It feels so nice, seeing Akira happy, his timidness gone when it’s just the two of them. There isn’t a wild streak in the brunet’s eyes like he’s used to but Ryo can almost pretend that this is still _his_ Akira.

He and Akira finally stop at Asuka manor but Ryo can’t bring himself to bring them inside. Instead, they lay side by side on the front lawn, Ryo rolling a joint as he feels the damp grass beginning to soak through his thin shirt to his skin like a sheen of cool sweat. They watch the clouds pass by, and when Ryo passes the joint to Akira, he allows his fingers to linger against his.

As the smoke settles in the air, Ryo decides to take a chance.

“Do you trust me?” he asks, when the joint is once again in his fingers.

Akira looks at him like it’s a ridiculous question. ~~Like Akira’s trust hasn’t been proven time and time again, for the worst~~. “Of course.”

Without another word, Ryo takes a long drag, letting the smoke fill his lungs before leaning over to let his face hover over Akira’s. Akira’s lips part in surprise and before Ryo can second guess himself, he closes his eyes and presses his lips to the other’s and allows the smoke to pass between them.

He pulls away but doesn’t open his eyes, too afraid to see whatever look may be on Akira’s face. It’s almost a surprise then when he feels lips against his again, but instead of smoke, Akira’s tongue presses into his mouth. With a laugh, Ryo returns the favor.

 

~

When Ryo drops Akira off at the Makimuras, the girl’s parents are outside with worried looks and red-rimmed eyes. As soon as Akira exits the car, they rush to him in a hug. They burst into tears crying, and one of them must finally calm down enough to say something to him because he nearly collapses to his knees in their arms and starts sobbing, wailing. Inside the house, a young boy peaks from the doorway, his body shaking.

As Ryo drives away, he tries to ignore the way his chest twinges as ~~Miki~~ the Makimura girl never joins them out front.

 

~

Akira later tells Ryo that there are more students who died that day than survived. Ryo decides that it’s gotten dangerous enough that he can’t leave Akira alone. “Why not stay with me?” he says. He’s pulled Akira into his arms, the other boy pressing his face into the crook of his neck.

“What do you mean?” Akira mumbles.

“There’s clearly something weird going on. It’s not just the school. Attacks are happening everywhere. Nowhere is safe anymore,” Ryo says, slowly, cautiously, gauging Akira’s reaction. “There’s no one else I’d trust in this world to have my back.” Ryo hides the burn of his cheeks by burying it in the thick black of Akira’s hair. “So move in with me. Just you and me against the world.”

Akira moves back from Ryo’s shoulder just enough to see his face. “If you’re sure, Ryo.”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

 

~

They hole away in Asuka manor, Ryo making the isolated plot it not just a refuge but an impenetrable fortress. They watch TV reports as news of demons becomes more than rumors, becomes fact, becomes something that humans will start a war against.

 It still shocks Ryo sometimes how drastically different this Akira is from the Akira he’d last seen on a battlefield, giving up his last breath to say what Ryo had hoped was a declaration of love. He’s softer, less violent, and there is a fragility to him that Ryo had almost forgotten. It is the Akira he first fell in love with, yes, but Ryo can’t help but think of what he considers _his_ Akira. He tries to acclimate to this Akira and at times it seems so easy, but then Akira will do something, say something and Ryo suddenly finds himself feeling uprooted.

Occasionally Ryo senses his demons on the edges of the property, but after the first few, they’ve learned not to come any further. He doesn’t know if any of them know exactly who he is or if they think he’s some powerfully territorial demon staking his claim. But one day, there is a ping against his senses, another, and another. All from the same spot until it feels like a psychic knock on his door, and Ryo knows he has received his answer.

“Ryo where are you going?” Akira asks as he leaves the door of the manor, their safe haven for the first time in weeks.

“I’m checking the property line. Making sure no demons snuck their way in.”

Akira turns off the TV (once again playing a 24/7 stream of news as it has for the last month) and stands up from his place on the couch. “I’ll go with you!” he says but Ryo stops him before he can take a step.

“Trust me, I’ll be fine,” he says, reaching for the shotgun leaning against the wall of the entryway as an afterthought. “It’s started snowing. It’s better if only one of us has to suffer out in the cold. You just stay here and tell me anything I’ve missed when I get back.”

Ryo leaves before Akira can follow, and as soon as he’s out of sight of the manor, he flits to the edge of the property where the pings had come from. A horde of demons, nearly twenty of them, crowd the spot and nearly step on top of each other.

One of the demons, one with a long serpentine neck, steps forward and bows its head. “Excuse me Lord Satan,” it says. “But Lord Zennon asks for your presence. He wishes to speak with you about regarding the war.”

“Did he say anything else?"

“Just that it’s urgent.”

“I see. Thank you,” Ryo says before heading towards where he can feel Zennon’s presence.

 

~

When he arrives, it is not Ryo who meets with Lord Zennon but Satan. His twelve wings no longer hide beneath a mortal guise but instead shine a gleaming gold. “Zennon, you better have something important to tell me,” Satan says, his eyes glowing a molten gold. “Something important enough for you to summon me, or else there’ll be hell to pay.”

“You mean something besides you abandoning your army to go play house with some human?” To say the Lord Zennon is upset is an understatement; all four of his heads gaze at Satan with disappointment, so much more than it had been last time.

“So that’s what this is about.”

“Don’t act so casual about this, Satan! You’re throwing away thousands of years of plans and actions and _the freedom of demons on Earth_ , all for some human!” Zennon says. “Have you truly forgotten who you are under the false identity Psycho Jenny created for you?”

“I think it’s you who has forgotten who you are, Zennon.”

It is then that Satan notices Psycho Jenny beside Zennon, standing there with her unwavering grin present as always. She says nothing as Zennon speaks but Satan can tell she’s less paying attention to the other demon and is more observing him in that quiet, all-knowing way of hers. She seems calm, accepting.

“I won’t stray from this,” Satan says once Zennon has finished. “Jenny knows this, and if you remembered this song and dance from the last time, you’d know this as well. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for Akira Fudo.”

 

 ~

When Satan returns to the manor, there is a mob out front, jeering and laughing as his home burns to the ground. The falling snow does nothing to put out the fire, melting long before it reaches even the tips of the flames.

Even without the silhouettes against light of the fire, Satan would know just who stands in the mob by their presence. Zennon’s messenger stands at the front with its long neck coiled around something small and fragile, like a boa constrictor squeezing the life out of its prey. The others jeer as one of them strikes out at their prey, tearing away at the parts of its body hanging limply out of the messenger’s hold. Blood drips and pours from beneath the suffering creature as more and more of it is ripped away.

 ~~Its~~ _Akira’s_ screams pierce through the roaring of the flames and the cackling of the demons. He cries and even from where Satan stands, frozen to the spot in horror, he can see the tears and snot shining wet as they mix with the blood glistening on his face.

Satan finally comes to himself, and the fire feels like it’s been absorbed into his very being with the way he feels every inch of him _burn_ with rage. The demons don’t even have time to let their voices join Akira’s, to scream in absolute agony as they are burned to ash under Satan’s Grace.

With nothing holding him up anymore, Akira’s body—what’s left of it—crumples to the ground. Satan rushes forward and softly, ever so gently cradles it in his arms. He cries as he sees the full state of Akira’s body—it is a near replica of the one left behind in their final battle.

“Ryo,” Akira rasps. An arm, weak and bloodied but not the one broken, reaches up to caress his face, his hair, his _wings_. “The moon…” He just barely manages to whisper the words out beyond the blood clogging his throat. And then he stills.

Satan feels his heart shatter more than he’d thought it could, shatters greater than the last time he’d witness Akira die in front of him because _he thought he’d prevented this. He’d walked away. He’d let God win. Why is he being punished like this?_

“I’m sorry!” Satan sobs, rocking back and forth. “I tried to stop this! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Akira please forgive me!”

There is no answer in the night other than the sound of the manor collapsing to the ground, nothing more than blackened rubble.

 

 ~

Although he’s tempted, he’s so very tempted, Satan does not go after Zennon or the other demons he feels may have planned the assault on the manor. It’s not done out of the goodness of his heart ~~what heart, his heart’s been broken beyond repair~~ it’s from the blackest, most hateful parts of him. Akira may have been better than he’s ever been, but he won’t let God make him like Him again. ~~Humans were made in God’s image but Satan will damn himself again if he’ll let that be true for him as well~~. It’s not in spite of Akira’s death but because of it that he stands down.

He watches as the War continues without him. Demons, humans, and devilmen alike kill one another until it seems like the whole earth is washed with their blood. And still Satan does nothing. He stays by the ruined remains of Asuka manor, by the buried remains of Akira Fudo, as the world burns around him.

When God finally sends down His angels to obliterate the world again, the world is just as empty and dead as it was the last time. The only one left, Satan feels only relief as the white burn of a thousand suns, the powers of the Holy Host, touches down upon the Earth. He closes his eyes and smiles as he feels his atoms superheated and ripped apart by the Powers That Be.

 

 ~

When Satan awakes from the burning white of his siblings’ touch, he's in a bed.


End file.
